An overview into what makes Anil Ravipudi a very successful commercial filmmaker with both his positives and negatives
Anil Ravipudi entered the Telugu film industry as a screenplay and dialogue writer starting from the year 2009.
He co-wrote the scripts of the Dookudu sequel Aagadu (2014) and also the Bol Bachchan Bol remake Masala (2013).
Anil Ravipudi saw success as a screenplay writer with the 2011 Kandireega, directed by Santhosh Srinivas. The entertaining screenplay particularly the characterization of Sonu Sood, a typical villainous role with the comic undertones left the viewers in splits.
In fact, a major strength of Anil Ravipudi has always been his whacky storytelling. The scenarios are often outlandish, but there is a conviction that he brings to the table.
Director Anil Ravipudi
Anil Ravipudi’s debuted as a director with Patas (2015). Concept-wise the movie has similarities to Junior NTR’s Temper (2015), however, Patas is very much its own beast.
It featured Kalyan Ram as a police officer but not the usual grim cop. There is an easygoing nature to the character particularly in the first half. The viewers get to see an energetic side of Kalyan Ram.
Patas also benefited immensely from comedian Srinivasa Reddy playing Kalyan Ram’s sidekick. The scenes featuring the two were a major highlight of the movie. It went on to become a huge hit and since then there has been no looking back for Anil Ravipudi.
Raja The Great features Ravi Teja as a visually impaired man, but his character doesn’t seek sympathy. Trained by his mother, played by veteran actress Radhika, he leads a self-sufficient life and turns his disability into an advantage.
Though Raja The Great is a typical commercial entertainer with little focus on logic, it ended Ravi Teja’s flop streak in 2017. Anil Ravipudi brought back Ravi Teja’s energetic persona, which his fans had missed for a while.
He has gone on to deliver hit after hit with the likes of Sai Dharam Tej, Nandamuri Balakrishna and of course, Victory Venkatesh with whom he has done three movies including the latest Sankranthiki Vasthunnam.
Flaws in Anil’s filmmaking
Before going into some of Anil Ravipudi’s movies explaining his success it’s also necessary to look into some of the drawbacks in Anil Ravipudi’s stories. It’s a well-known fact that Anil Ravipudi’s storytelling is mostly outlandish with characters behaving in a farcical manner.
While the director’s conviction in dealing with outlandish scenarios is a plus, at the same time his brand of humour and lack of certain political correctness also becomes a major hurdle. For example, in Sarileru Neekevvaru (2020) there is a scene where Rashmika’s Sankruti accuses of Mahesh Babu raping her.
This is used as comic fodder leaving a very bitter taste. The entire portions on the train don’t give much entertainment for the viewers, even the climax portion where the antagonist joins the army just because of one fiery speech, borders on extreme ridiculousness.
Similarly in F3 (2023), most of the principal characters, both male and female, including an honest police officer, are driven by greed for money.
This makes them do questionable things. When it comes to the actions of both Venkatesh and Varun Tej there is no judgmental tone, but when it comes to the characterizations of Tamannaah and co they are unnecessarily vilanised.
There is also a very unnecessary track of Sonal Chauhan thinking that Tamannaah is a man.
While F3 is largely entertaining and also features an important message about what greed for money can make people do and how it should be respected in the right way, at the same time these aspects could have been taken care of by Anil Ravipudi.
Now let’s get into some of Anil Ravipudi’s most successful movies explaining his commercial success.
Sankranthiki Vasthunnam
Anil Ravipudi’s Sankranthiki Vasthunnam was an entertaining story of an ex-encounter specialist stuck between his wife and also an ex-girlfriend cum cop while handling an important mission of bringing back a reputed businessman. A strong aspect of Sankranthiki Vasthunnam was undoubtedly the characterization of Venkatesh’s YD Raju coupled with the actor’s brilliant comic timing.
Senior actor Venkatesh isn’t new to the genre of comedy; he has brought the house down on multiple occasions with his fantastic sense of humour most notably in Malliswari (2004) and Nuvvu Naaku Nachav (2001), still Anil Ravipudi brought out a different side to his comedy.
Venkatesh portrayed the multiple shades of YD Raju in a brilliant manner, aided by the hilarious writing.
Women characters
Anil Ravipudi crafted two strong women characters, Aishwarya Rajesh and Meenakshi Chaudhary. Aishwarya’s portrayal of Bhagyalakshmi, a supportive yet jealous wife afraid of her husband reconnecting with his old love, added an interesting layer to the mission. She aced the role perfectly.
Meenakshi Chaudhary, known for her traditional housewife roles in Lucky Baskhar (2024) and Matka (2024), was showcased differently in Sankranthiki Vasthunnam. She played an ex-cop still in love with YD Raju. Meenakshi stood her ground against both Venkatesh and Aishwarya, proving to be a great foil.
Apart from the leads, Bheemla Revanth Pavan, as YD Raju’s son, brought a lot of humour. His OTT-inspired curses had the audience laughing on multiple occasions.
However, a weak subplot about respecting teachers stuck out like a sore thumb. Anil Ravipudi often adds small messages to his films, like in F3, where the theme of greed worked well. But in Sankranthiki Vasthunnam, the teacher-respect theme felt forced and disconnected, more like an afterthought than an integrated part of the story.
Bhagavanth Kesari
Apart from his usual commercial movies, Bhagavanth Kesari starring Nandamuri Balakrishna was a pleasant surprise as Anil blended Balakrishna’s stardom with an important story of a young girl rising above a certain psychological trauma.
In a way, it was Dangal on steroids. Thankfully the troupes of the army aren’t used here for evoking patriotic feelings. It is more about Sreeleela’s Vijji overcoming her anxiety attacks and in the process becoming a resilient young woman.
In this film, general Anil Ravipudi’s comic troupes are kept to a bare minimum. The film also has powerful dialogues on good touch and bad touch delivered by the terrific Balakrishna.
The track of Kajal Aggarwal playing a supposed psychiatrist is the only occasion where we see trademark Anil Ravipudi touches.
Sreeleela as Vijji
A big strength of the movie was the powerful emotional bond between Balakrishna and Sreeleela’s Vijji. Balakrishna’s character is a foster father to Vijji.
To help Vijji become more resilient, he pushes her to join the army, something which Vijji hates. The portion of Bhagavanth pushing Vijji resulting in her hating him has a distinct hangover of Aamir Khan’s Mahavir Phogat in Dangal.
The movie’s underlying message emphasizes raising girls to be strong, like lions, and this theme comes across powerfully. A notable moment occurs in the pre-climax when, at a critical point, Anil Ravipudi shows Sreeleela fighting the baddies while Balakrishna pretends to be incapable.
There’s a clear reason for this. Both Anil Ravipudi and Balakrishna deserve credit for allowing Sreeleela to take centre stage. Her scenes, where she fights the baddies overcoming her anxiety, form the heart of Bhagavanth Kesari.
F2
F2 directed by Anil Ravipudi deals with familiar themes of frustrated men, in this case, it is Venkatesh’s Venky and Varun Tej’s Varun.
Venky is a frustrated husband unable to cope with the system of marriage and the expectations which come with it. Varun on the other hand is a happy go lucky youngster who falls in love with Venky’s sister-in-law. Varun also ends up being frustrated unable to bear the eccentricities of his girlfriend.
The best part of F2 was the entertainment quotient specifically in the first half. Venkatesh played the “subjugated” husband to perfection raising many chuckles with his just his expressions and dialogue delivery.
A particular scene which needs to be mentioned here is when Venkay pours out his emotions about his marriage woes to a patient male dog.
This portion ends up with tears in the dog’s eye making Priyardarshi comment that you not only make families emotional but also dogs. The “juggalbandi” between Venkatesh and Varun Tej was a big plus for the movie enhanced by Anil Ravipudi’s writing.
Varun Tej with his rustic Telangana accent also got a good character and he did a fine job providing able support to Venkatesh.
The second half though went for a toss with some unnecessary characters and a climax which was both convulsed and chaotic; still, the movie was a good entertainer.
F3
F3, the sequel to F2 except for Venkatesh, Varun Tej and some other characters has no connection to F2.
The storyline here is completely different as it focuses on a bunch of men and women driven by greed. A strong aspect of F3 is its entertainment quotient even though it isn’t always politically correct.
Venkatesh’s character suffers from night blindness; Varun Tej on the other has a specific mannerism to cover his stuttering. A lot of the humour is generated from this.
Much like F2 the “juggalbandi” between Venkatesh and Varun Tej was a major highlight. Talking about the humorous scenes, similar to the first part, there is a portion where Venkatesh talks about his problems to a raging bull, the bull subsequently has tears.
The way it is written by Anil Ravipudi coupled with Venkatesh’s acting makes it very entertaining to watch. Towards the end, there is an important moral lesson that Anil Ravipudi smartly integrates.
This is all about Anil Ravipudi’s strengths and weaknesses as a filmmaker along with what makes him a blockbuster director, here’s hoping that Anil Ravipudi grows from strength to strength and also explores new genres.
(Edited by Sumavarsha)
